The elegant, spacious restaurant at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, a 15-minute drive south of downtown Phoenix, borrows heavily from the region’s Native American tribes: Its name means seed in the Pima language, and chefs Michael O’Dowd and Jack Strong use indigenous ingredients from the Gila River Indian community for their inventive contemporary American dishes with a Native American twist.

Chef Chris Bianco’s brick-oven pizzas, made with organic flour, fresh mozzarella and house-made sausage, are among the best in the country. A sign of Bianco’s devoted chef following: Superstar Los Angeles chef Suzanne Goin (an F&W Best New Chef 1999) got married there. But reservations are only taken for parties of more than six, and everyone else starts lining up hours before the restaurant opens. Luckily, his Bar Bianco next door serves wine and small plates to ease the wait.